After a contentious hearing, the state's campaign-finance watchdog has fined a statehouse candidate $300 for failing to file any reports after months of campaigning.

Republican Chris Bowen, who's challenging state Rep. Alex Wood, D-Spokane, told investigators that he put the reports in the mail and that's all he's required to do. It's not his problem, he said, if the state Public Disclosure Commission didn't get them or lost them.

Wrong, PDC Chairman Ken Schellberg said during a telephone hearing Thursday.

"We need the reports. I'm sorry, this is not a utopia," he told Bowen. "At some time in our life, I think most of us have to learn to keep copies of something we've sent in the mail."

In an email to a reporter before the hearing, Bowen said he'd done everything needed to: fill out the forms and mail them.

"This mishandling of my information is not new," he wrote. "So I have a great policy that allows me to do everything I am required to do, and at the same time not concern myself with others' mistakes."

He said at the time that he had spoken with the PDC and that "it is understood that the matter is laughable."

Not sharing in the laughter: Schellberg. In cases like this, he told Bowen, a candidate simply provides copies of the reports.

"You're just making laws up to cut me down on certain fines," responded Bowen. "You're the lawman. You read it to me where it says it doesn't matter what the reason is."

Schellberg said Bowen could appeal the ruling if he wants to. Then he hung up on Bowen.

On Saturday, Bowen – still not saying what he does for a living – said he plans to appeal.

"I won the case, but they were focused on fining me no matter what," he wrote. "It was not a shock. This is a regular thing for me."

Click here to listen to an excerpt of the discussion between Bowen and Schellberg.

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